The Refugee Crisis and How to Overcome It

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The photo depicting the death of Syrian boy Alan Kurdi has become a symbol of the refugee crisis in Europe. It caused major concern among the officials as well as common people and brought a surge in donations to charities, which work on refugee issue. While the current situation of Syrian and Iraqi refugees is unprecedented, the problem of refugees, in general, is well-known, and it was studied since the middle of XX century. Thereby it is a question of great importance, how European nation would overcome the crisis. Although EU has all the necessary resources to help the refugees, it would be a challenging task which requires the development of the new methods to work with them.

The term “refugee” was not invented in XX century; its technical meaning was developed after First World War. It distinguishes those, who lost the protection of their state from the ordinary immigrants. Their protection has become a responsibility of newly ordered League of Nations along with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The first refugees they dealt with were Russians, who were scattered through Europe due to revolution and civil war.

As seen, the refugee phenomenon is not as modern as some books tend it to portray. There is no fundamental difference between the Russian refugees of the 1920s, Jewish in 1930s, Vietnamese of the 1970s and Syrian and Iraqi ones of nowadays. While modern refugee movements have their unique features, like their pure scale, each movement has a home troubled country, a displaced individual and a host country. There also may come other participants such as non-government organizations, protecting the refugees, but those three are a constant.

It is still up to researchers to understand the fundamental reasons that caused the situation, leading millions of Syrians and Iraqi to leave their homes in the pursuit of better life, but the current crisis was already called one of the worst humanitarian disasters since the 1940s. The most obvious reasons for people to flee are war, violence, and poverty. The true causes for people to risk their lives in sinking boats, however, are running much deeper.

The crisis has to deal with more than destruction of order in the Middle East. It is a consequence of failure of Arabic civilization to embrace the modernity. The eastern world managed to build economies that at certain degree allowed people to live in prosperity, but failed to deliver the modern political systems, which progressive-minded people desire. After the fall of Ottoman Empire, the Arabs have tried several ideologies, and most of them did not work.

The social nationalism of Egyptian Gamal Abdel Nasser has failed just as authoritarianism of Libya’s Muamar Gaddafi and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. It is impossible to compare the achievements of no less authoritarian Lee Kwan Yew in Singapore with the legacy of Saddam Hussein in oil-rich Iraq. The radical Islamism, which now prospers in devastated regions, is not an ideology of choice for the most Muslims. Furthermore, the atrocities committed by the fanatics of ISIS, devalue more moderate flows of Islam.

While refugees are fleeing for their lives, European Union has problems of its own, and most likely that refugee crisis will only worsen them. The economic gap between the prosperous countries like Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Norway, and less successful ones as Greece and significant part of the Eastern Europe is growing and it questions the very existence of the EU. More countries refuse to host the refugees; some are even constructing walls on their borders while politicians of the highest level allow themselves harsh statements on the refugee problem.

Theresa May of the British Conservative Party wanted to ban migrants from the UK unless they have a job and the Prime Minister David Cameron described the refugees coming to his country as a “swarm”. International organizations have criticized them, but if the problem exists on the highest level, what is possible to say about common people? It is doubtful that many Europeans are eager to share their riches with the millions of refugees.

It may cause a systematic discrimination, which in turn may lead more Arabs to the radical Islamism. The vicious circle requires new patterns of work at all levels of society. Not to mention that the richest countries of the Persian Gulf such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UAE have refused to host a single refugee of the 7.6 millions of Syrians and more than 2 millions of Iraqis, suggesting that western countries have to deal with the crisis on their own.

The non-governmental organizations such as Human Right Watch are major forces in dealing with the crisis. They require the EU to do its best in order to overcome the crisis. HRW specialists require implementing effective border and migration control that may help vulnerable people to avoid the dangerous journeys through the Mediterranean Sea on unreliable vessels like the one caused the death of Alan Kurdi. The European coastal guard in its turn should pay more attention to those who have no other choice, both saving the lives of the unfortunate refugees and ensure the action against smugglers’ criminal business.

Other ways of helping the refugees include increasing legal and safe channels into the EU, reforming its Visa Code and expand family reunification. Speaking of long-term actions, European countries should make their best to prevent violation of refugees’ rights, allow them to have the legal job and provide legal education for their children, in a word, allow them to socialize in the unfamiliar place. It is still however a matter of discussion, how much the refugees want to socialize themselves.

In my opinion, this is the first refugee crisis of the XIX century, but most likely not the last. The world is changing dramatically and we are only beginning to embrace the consequences of these changes. The western countries may look rich and prosperous for the poor Syrians, who have nothing to lose, but their power still has limits. It may be not the matter of amount of resources, but their distribution.

Meanwhile, the displeasure of the common Europeans is growing, and it may cause the outbreaks of anti-Islamism and even nationalism; thus the liberal values such as tolerance to unlike people are yet to be tested. Being a terrible humanitarian catastrophe of its own, the refugee crisis is also a consequence of many actions done wrong, and we have to admit, that some of these actions were committed by the western world, not the Arab dictators or Islamic fanatics. Still I hope, that the crisis, while presenting many challenges to the European countries will eventually make the world safer and fairer place to live.

Bibliography

Betts, Alexander, Loesher, Gil. Refugees in International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.

“Europe’s Refugee Crisis. An Agenda for Action.” Human Right Watch, 2015. Web.

Haddad, Emma. Refugees and the International System: Between Sovereigns. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Mead, Walter Russel. “The Roots of the Migration Crisis”. Wall Street Journal, 2015. Web.

Osborne, Samuel. “Theresa May says migrants should be banned from entering the UK unless they have jobs lined up”. Independent, 2015. Web.

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The Refugee Crisis and How to Overcome It

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